The term “ice beverage”, as used herein, refers to a beverage being in a slush state, that is a pourable mixture of ground ice and liquid, wherein the mixture is generally homogeneous. The quantity of liquid may also be nil. The ground ice is composed of ice particles or ice flakes. The terms “ice particles” and “ice flakes” are used herein interchangeably. The terms “blender” and “blending unit” are also used herein interchangeably.
A common prior art method for producing ice beverages, which can be continuously and instantaneously supplied, uses device having a liquid mixture which is chilled to a partial frozen state, while being continuously mixed. The disadvantage of the method is the short shelf-life of the mixture. Moreover, the process of preparing the ice beverage may involve manual control which has to be done by trained personal. The device may not operate automatically and may need continuous supervision when an ice beverage is requested. Furthermore, the process of cooling the liquid into a ready to serve ice beverage, typically takes between 20-60 minutes, during which time the ice beverage cannot be served.
Other prior art devices for dispensing ice beverages, such as vending machines, do not have the capacity needed to ensure a non-stop supply of a large numbers of servings by a single machine. Existing vending machines suffer from a short shelf life, due to the method operation. Moreover, the vending machines offer a limited variety of flavored ice beverages.
Prior art devices for dispensing flavored ice beverages do produce the flavored ice portion of the beverage and the liquid portion of the beverage with the same process, thereby the two portions of the beverage cannot be controlled to repeatably contain the same content and thereby producing an ice beverage which has substantially the same content and the same flavor.
Another prior art apparatus for dispensing flavored ice beverages, is described in PCT application WO 2008/032306, by Ehud Klier et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. The apparatus includes one or more containers for holding a concentrated drink, water supply, a mixing unit for mixing the concentrated drink with the water into a substantially homogeneous liquid mixture, an ice making unit assembly for freezing at least a portion of the freshly produced liquid mixture into ice cubes containing substantially identical ice quantity, a crushing and blending unit for crushing a pre measured amount of the ice cubes into small, drinkable ice particles, and blending the ice particles with a pre measured amount of freshly produced liquid mixture.
There is a need for and it would be advantageous to have a made-to-order apparatus for dispensing freshly prepared frozen beverage having a controlled balance of liquid and ice.